MOONSCAPE: At about 11a.m. Sunday, the grounds surrounding Brea Canyon High School and Brea Olinda High School showed the devastation that Saturday’s fire created here. Brea Canyon High School, a continuation school, had its windows blown out by the fire.

Two Orange County school districts affected by this weekend’s brush fires closed all of their campuses to students Monday, while many others asked administrators to limit P.E. classes, athletics and other outdoor activities.

The Brea Olinda Unified School District’s 10 campuses will remain closed Tuesday and possibly Wednesday, while the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District’s 35 campuses are expected to reopen Tuesday.

Brea Olinda High School, which sustained minor damages to its athletic fields and surrounding areas, could be closed for longer because of the campus’ proximity to the fire zones, Superintendent Skip Rowland said.

And students at adjacent Brea Canyon High, a continuation school where at least six classrooms were scorched, will be sent to Brea Olinda High when classes resume.

Roland said initial cost estimates for clean-up across the school district, including repairs at Brea Canyon High and Brea Olinda High, could reach $3 million.

Although there were no reports of damages to schools in the 26,000-student Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, all 35 campuses were closed to students Monday.

District administrators were concerned that students would have difficulty getting to school because of closed roadways, and also wanted to allow time for employees and students directly impacted by the fires to be with their families, said district spokeswoman Rosemary Gladden.

“We do know that sadly, families and staff members who live in the area lost their homes,” she said. “We are connecting with the families in the area to assess what their needs might be.”

Crisis counselors will be on hand at all of the district’s campuses Tuesday, Gladden added. Staff members who were not directly impacted by the fires came to school to clean up and prepare the schools, Gladden said.

Across Orange County, districts including Santa Ana Unified, Garden Grove Unified and Tustin Unified shortened outdoor activities and moved P.E. classes indoors when possible Monday because of the county’s smoky, poor air quality.

In the 30,000-student Orange Unified School District, principals were told to keep students indoors all morning, district officials said. In the afternoon, principals were told to use their discretion to gage air quality at their campuses to decide if students would be allowed outside for activities.

Closer to the fires, all outside activities in the Fullerton Elementary School District, which serves 13,600 K-8 children, were suspended Monday until further notice, said Kathy Ikola, assistant to the superintendent. Schools were being asked to keep all windows closed and air-conditioning systems running, she said.

“Our schools in northern Fullerton probably are dealing with more smoke than in southern Fullerton, but we figured we needed to keep all of our students safe,” Ikola said. “We’re monitoring everything.”

In Brea Olinda Unified schools, crews will install special air filtration systems Tuesday into the air-conditioning units throughout the district, Roland said. Staff has also been instructed to return to their locations Tuesday.

Because the governor declared a state of emergency, schools that were closed Monday will not be required to make up the instructional day, and the school districts can apply for reimbursement for lost Average Daily Attendance state funding.

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